Dear Gina,in the garden one will always find something nibbling on some plants. If it is not the many little caterpillars,the grapes go to the birds and the squirrels make a mess of the pots. Your colorful chickens will probably rewardyou with extra special eggs after a meal of the Sweet Peas.Love all your photos and the carved wood design.Hugs, Sieglinde

Dear Sieglinde, I guess no Gardener is immune from the destruction of all kinds of critters. Every year is different. It's always a juggling act. What is more important, fresh eggs or Sweet Peas. The carved wood is a detail from a large piece of an Italian highboy. It holds my china and crystal.

Dear Gina - I love that you have such a wonderful variety of chickens all dressed in different colours - it does look though as if sufficient sweet peas will survive their snips for you to also enjoy them. I am having trouble with my morning glories - everytime a seedling appears and gets established something, I know not what, comes along in the nightime and snips it off.

Dear Rosemary, Your morning glory story is amazing. I can't imagine what critter would like them. They are somewhat poisonous, aren't they? My morning glories volunteer prolifically and I have to make sure that they don't overwhelm some of the spaces. I can't think of anything that might work. One idea might be placing a shallow dish filled with beer and check it very early in the morning. See what might have drowned or come by for a visit.

Haha I had to look that one up and yes, I hope that you do get those naughty little chickens to behave themselves. They are very pretty naughty chickens though. I love Sweet Peas, they have such delicate and lovely faces, and the colours are so pure. I don't have much of anything growing, it is all in a state of decline. We have had a very long dry spell and the earth under the much looks like concrete...not a good soil for growing pretties and so I enjoy stopping by to see what you have blooming. Take good care of yourself and those Sweet Peas~

Dear Mary, Nothing is easy about gardening, is it. Always something trying to give us an extra challenge. Every year is so different, especially this year where like you, we have had no rain for a very long time. We have been pumping water out of our pond to help keep our vegetables and flowers going. We are lucky.